stapler gun

Hey guys, I’ve still been a little sick. Here is a quick update.

Martial Arts/Stunts
Haven’t been training much because I was sick the past week or so. I’m in a recovering mode and just got the sniffles. Hopefully it will be completely gone by the end of the week.

I helped coach at LA wushu today and I’ve still been staying active training my private lessons. Also got a new student starting next week so we will see how that goes. This sets me in line with my goal of having a max of 3-5 private lessons. I really enjoy teaching, but keeping it one on one – this way I really get to see someone’s skills develop and provide them direct attention and custom training. Meanwhile, it keeps me active without turning martial arts training into a full-time thing that prevents me from focusing on other areas of my life.

Sam called me the past week and mentioned helping her out on a crouching tiger hidden dragon fight set for 8711, but the scene required 2 girls instead of a guy so it fell through. However, I’m sure some other cool opportunities will arise. =)

Film
Finished shooting pick up scenes for Barry Baz (www.barrybaz.com). There’s nothing really on the site yet, so don’t get too excited. However, I am quite excited because it’s been about 6 months since I finished shooting the main stuff with them and they’ve been editing (with the editors from the same studio that edited the Bourne series) and cleaning it up so that it’s a masterpiece. It’s about an Australian that comes to America. He meets me and I am an award winning film maker of sorts.. but I can’t say much more… so let’s just say it’s a comedy and a whole lot more. Should be done within a month. I’ll post more details when it’s done.

Business
Tons going on over here. Continued working on wk mock ups. Created 2 versions that I like right now.. just trying to decide on a layout. Also got the martial arts complete site in progress. The layout is good just need to get the content up there and adjust the color scheme. I filed for the dba and am still waiting on the paper work.

Corporation’s taxes are due March 15, so I started cleaning up my finances. Feels good to really sit down and see everything from a numbers perspective and then watch how it’s grown over the years. I know this is something that I should actually be looking at quite often, but as a start up you worry about a million things and hardly want to deal with the number crunching. Anyways, it’s looking good for 09.. now just to stay on top of things for ’10.

Other
Major thing going on is that the front porch is finally getting remodeled and getting tile put in because the old material was starting to crack from the rain. Should be done by Sunday.

Also started doing a few fun raps/freestyles/covers if you hadn’t noticed on my previous posts.

Casual is Cool has our official youtube page which can be checked out at http://www.youtube.com/user/casualiscoolyo (SUBSCRIBE if you are cool)

Ni wen wo ai ni you duo shen

“Mooncake represents my heart!”

Wushu
NWTC, 99Wushu, White Lotus, UCLA Wushu / gym. This week I’ve been working more on short sections and speed over full forms. Only day I did full forms was at NWTC because they were the only place with enough space to do a full form. I’ve been training every day except one day for recovery.. shoulders have been feeling a little tight and same with my back. Overall I am probably in the top shape of my life though. I am going to bring home a medal from the 10th wushu world championships.

Film
Went out to an audition for Wizards of Waverly Place. It went alright. I said my lines confidently and naturally, but regardless when I came out of the audition it made me realize I want to take some more acting classes and practice more to refine my art. It’s always good to get more practice and I am a firm believer that everything takes practice. You can be talented, but to get to that next step, it still takes practice.. whether its acting, martial arts, giving speeches, etc.

Today I went to a meet and greet with a sports agent. They help book for fitness magazines, sports commercials, and anything athletic related. They liked the pictures I had and seemed satisfied with my athletic qualifications. I’ll be hearing back from them on Friday.

Tea
AngelsTea in Nucleus Art Gallery. (Read here: http://www.angelstea.com/angels-tea-in-nucleus-the-art-gallery-and-store/) Uploaded a few more pictures to the gallery and did some facebook updates. Add Angels Tea on facebook and twitter http://twitter.com/angelstea ! Valentines day should be a good time for people to consider Angels Tea as a sexy fun gift for their significant others.

Good news is that I’ve already had to make a re-order since my inventory was running low. My family has been supportive as well and family friends have helped spread the word in nor cal and I have made a few sales to get me off my feet with this. Thank you guys! Of course the true test is to continue pushing forward and get a large retail location to distribute my product, but sales are sales and the support behind me is a very positive thing.

WushuKicks
Set up a bunch of sites related to wushukicks. Hoping to cross promote and build up traffic through related markets. I began to evaluate other niches. It goes without saying.. wushu shoes occupies a small market compared to all of martial arts shoes or martial arts equipment. Also sketching in my idea book how to redesign wushukicks cleanly. Looking to get this done soon.

Filed for incorporation at the Secretary of State building. Next step will be to set up online merchant services. Also other To Do items include: Making new business cards, getting QuickBooks Pro, and making a wushukicks intro video.

Martial Arts Nutrition
Quite a bit of back and forth has occurred with the design. The lab has tested and labeled everything on their end. I believe we are at the point where we are going to get this product up and ready soon! Excitement is in the air.

General Business / General Thoughts
The bottom line is this – everything costs money! lol

Incorporating costs money. Merchant services costs money. Pay pal takes money. Shipping costs money. Joining the Realtors board costs money. Owning a realtor supra key to open lock boxes costs money. Maintaining your membership with your local board of realtors costs money. Product development costs money. Manufacturing a product costs money. Gas costs money. Business license costs money. Franchise tax board wants money. Sellers permit costs money.

Aiyah! Why didnt anyone tell me this BEFORE I got into starting up my own businesses. (I complain, but I love the entrepreneurial lifestyle.)

I got some great accounting advice from my uncle who is a CPA and also from my mom who was a controller for a tech firm. Now I am slowly getting all my bills, accounts, and expenses in order so that I can actually see my profits and losses.

My other uncle, a former CIO, encouraged me to read “never eat alone” – a book about building relationships and connecting people. I read it that day just because I figured if I didn’t read it right then, I would probably never get around to reading it. The book has a lot of common sense ideas, but 1) its good to re-enforce those ideas and 2) within its 250ish pages it obviously did have some new information and advice that I thought was clever or motivating.

We had an entr meeting with Dave, Misa, Jaemin, and Alison yesterday. Seems like everyone has encountered the freelance blues at some point.. which is working by yourself and having your own time, but feeling strangely unmotivated. We determined a good solution to that is to work WITH people wether mentors or partners. Even if you are successful its never fun sharing that by yourself.

Seems like Dave is FINALLY going to take some caffeine and maybe start working on getting our clothes design manufactured. I give him a hard time, but I know he has been swamped with Nom Nom (www.nomnomtruck.com) and I have been equally busy preparing for World Games.

Moon Festival
Despite all this business, I had a really relaxing day with my relatives on Chinese Moon Festival. First we visited grandma then we had some crepes for lunch, mooncakes of course, and a nice bbq at my uncles house. All us cousins went to the mall and played with every single contraption in the “As Seen on TV Store”. I had some good chats with my cousin Lydia and took note that its really key to maintain a balance between friends and focusing on success.

The next day we went to a Taiwanese dinner that my aunt invited me and Lydia to. I bumped into the random-est people there: Vivy, a college friend that I hadnt seen in a long time, a bunch of the Miss Taiwan Pageant girls which I saw at the Miss Taiwan Pageant only because my roommate Eliver knew people there (read post: http://www.casualiscool.com/pictures/miss-taiwan-approves-of-angels-tea/), and my aunts friend who happened to be on the US National Taekwondo forms team.

When I set out to write this entry, I was trying to make it as short and matter of fact as possible, but I am glad I wrote all this because sometimes I look back and I think “what have I done all week”, but as soon as I write it down it makes me feel like.. “okay, I have been remotely productive”.

Butterfinger Commercial Kung Fu Fight

Film
Sunday I had a filming double wammy. 8am I went to shoot a commercial for a butterfinger commercial contest. The theme is old school kung fu cinema so I fought a guy with a fu-manchu. I had a heavy hand in the choreo and it was a funny project to work on.
Check out an outtake from todays shoot.

Right after this shoot I went to shoot some more of the Borat style short. It was really funny. I won’t spoil it but lets just say we had a dog licking some mayonaise off of someone’s back. Also I am working with Larry Hankins on this project. He  has been on Friends, CSI, Martial Law, Home Alone, Seinfeld, Billy Madison and much more.

Wushu
Just competed in the Long Beach Intl tournament. I took first in both my events in the chinese martial arts division. I felt good that I competed because I proved to myself my endurance was still in top shape as I was able to go 5 rounds from 9am-7pm. I got to perform at the 2009 Masters Hall of Fame and received some good praise from many respected martial arts masters.

At the end of the tournament I was interviewed and asked to give my feedback on the tournament and also a little background on myself. I will post up a link when that is online.

Training wise- I was really sore from the competition, but managed to do some jogging and light kicking due to my private lesson class.

Tea
Should be in any time next week. Still need to update site.

Clothing
Now I need to get prototype3 made.

Beverage
Met up with my business partners last week and they really broke down the drink industry. This one requires more time and financial commitment so I have to figure out quickly where I want to go with this. I should get moving on a finalized label design.

Misc
Sherry and XJ got married this week!! I went to her “xi jiu” or wedding reception at a restaurant in Chinatown.

Sherry's Wedding Day

Congratulations Sherry and XJ!

Coincidentally I watched Wedding Crashers yesterday and that was SUCH a funny movie! I wonder if people actually do that in real life? =P

This picture will be in Forbes magazine one day.

Young EO
Met up with a bunch of friends that all are starting or have started their own businesses. Everyone is relatively new (within 1-2 years of starting their business) to the CEO/entrepreneur lifestyle. Regardless of what industry or years of experience, everyone has the same passion for life and for creating something exciting/fun/revolutionary so it is bound to be a great group.

We have yet to come up with a name, but so far my suggestions were ONE – Organization of New Entrepreneurs or CEO – Creative Entr Org.

Film
Landed a non-union butterfinger commercial that we are going to rehearse for tonight. We are planning on shooting it on Sunday. The other “Borat” project wants to shoot on Sunday too. Hopefully I can fit both in.

Wushu
Went to LA Wushu on Monday and did 2 half sections and worked on some twists and aerial twists. I am still a little sick and very lethargic I will admit, but I am still forcing myself to practice. I need to practice spear and straightsword a little more. I also need to refine my third and fourth section of longfist. I am still hitting all my nandu/jumps solid.

Clothing
Got prototype2 back. We spent a lot of time and money on this one and it still was not perfect. There is a lot of value in having CLEAR and SPECIFIC communication skills because I guess if what we wanted translated better we wouldnt have to be requesting a THIRD prototype. We are going to try to blend some features from both the 1st and 2nd proto and then hopefully we should be golden.

Goal is to have this done and reach out to manufacturers within a month.

WushuKicks
Due to me finally opening my eyes to the potential that is WushuKicks and inspiration/reminders from others around me, WushuKicks is finally getting a planned site revamp. This is also targeted to be finished within a month although I think this goal is pushing it, but will heavily depend on my timing with the tea site completion.

Another goal is to have merchant account set up before the end of the month.

Tea
Production is completed. It should be shipped out to me sometime this week. Site is 2/3 ready. Need to take product pictures once the tins arrive. Also came up with a list of keywords to target.

Goal is to finish site and have model product pics done within the month.

Miss Independent

Misc
Sat went out to Pasadena and got pretty hammered off Svedka. For some reason it was extremely nasty, but normally its not that bad. Ended up singing ‘Miss Independent’ in a parking lot after one drink too many.

Sun. went to Michelle Lee’s bday with Eliver and hooked up with some homies at her shindig at library bar- alex, amanda, matt b, li jing, sun nuo, john, and tamiko.

Green Teas

I’ve been slowing down on the updating, but I have still been busy nonetheless.

I suppose the main thing that I have been making progress with this week has been on my tea biz which I will release in a week or two.

Film
Second day of shooting for this Borat like pilot/webisode I am shooting. I actually had a chance to banter with my australian lead actor (that I play his personal documentarian) and the dialogue started getting ridiculous. I am enjoying the project more and more.

Tea
Received chocolates. Took product pictures. Thurs and Fri I updated the site by putting up product descriptions and organizing the categories. The whole weekend I also updated the various label colors/sizes/description for different flavors. It was a little tedious, but it was work that needed to be done. I sent the labels to our label maker.

Beverage
Talking with partners on going to mixing site to get 100 bottles filled as samples. I have also been refining this label, but am considering going with a professional designer. Also was debating on our target market- whether it should be very broad, broad within a niche, or VERY niche. I think I have my decision, but I will run it by my partners. Other than that- we just need to decide on name and label and go to the mixing house. This is one of my projects that I consider has some of the most longterm growth potential.

Other Biz
Might set up a dropship biz with another friend. This should take a week to get off the ground and this will serve more as a learning experience and to see how fast we can get an ecommerce up. I already setup the domain, cart, and theme.

Wushu
Tues. and Sun. I had private lessons with a new student that wanted to learn wushu and acrobatics. He had years training shaolin and a little bit of wushu before. He also does cross country and so he has a lot of endurance. So far I am enjoying training him because he is really dedicated and willing to push himself to improve. Going forward I will be teaching him weekly.
As far as my own training I believe I skipped wushu twice last week and on the days that I did train I did not train as long as usual. I did push myself more on friday and saturday because I felt I havent been training as hard as I should be. I’ve been making sure to land everything consistently and tweak some things, but haven’t made any major changes since team trials.

Misc
My brother dropped by LA unexpectedly so that sort of threw me for a loop. He crashed at my place and Wed we went to a lounge together. He also came to 99 wushu with me once. After World Games I am hoping to spar more and learn jiu jitsu more.
Friday I went to Apple Lounge with Hue. Saturday had lunch with my roomie Eliver along with Lianne Lin and Asia “not-the-pornstar” Eng. At night, I went to a bday dinner and Area.